2. A device that performs high-speed mathematical or logical operations or that assembles, stores, correlates, and otherwise processes information.
3. Someone who utilizes a programmable electronic machine that has special procedures for accomplishing results: Computers can perform complex and repetitive procedures quickly, precisely, and reliably; as well as, quickly storing and retrieving large amounts of data.
The physical components from which a computer is constructed and which provide electronic circuits and input/output devices are known as "hardware".
Most computers have four types of hardware components: CPU, input, output, and memory.
The CPU, or central processing unit, executes programs known as "software" which direct the computer what to do.
Input and output, I/O, devices allow the computer to communicate with the user and the outside world.
There are several kinds of memory for computers that include fast, expensive, short term memory, known as RAM, to hold intermediate results, and slower, cheaper, long-term memory; such as, magnetic disk and magnetic tape, to hold programs and data between jobs.
Origin of the word computer
The term computer is a word which was formed in English from the verb compute and it has a recorded history going back to 1646, when it was used to mean "a person who computes".
In 1897, the word was first recorded as "a calculating machine", although that particular machine, which was "of the nature of a circular slide rule", did not resemble a modern computer.
Humans were the earliest computers. These "counting persons" were professionals who worked with numbers and were credited with great accuracy. The early computing was manual and involved the use of such counting tools as the abacus and a variety of slide rules.
When adding machines were developed, the man or woman who computed with one of these "rapid" devices, often called the counting machine a computer.
Some people may be accused of being computer addicts because they are engrossed in achieving more objectives via the internet and their computers than is possible with any other tool or device.
2. Etymology: from Latin com-, "with" and putare, "to reckon" or "to think" + ad-, "to" + dicere, "to say, to declare".2. CVS is caused by the decreased blinking reflex of the eyes while working long hours focusing on computer screens.
The normal blinking rate in human eyes is about 16–20 blinks per minute and recent studies have shown that the blinking rate decreases to as low as 6–8 blinks a minute for people who are working on computer screens for long periods and this can lead to an irritating condition called dry eyes.
3. A variety of problems related to prolonged viewing of a computer screen.
Short term effects include dry eyes, blurred vision, eye fatigue and excessive tearing.
Long term effects include migraines, cataracts, and visual epilepsy.
Some solutions include keeping reflections and glare to a minimum and to provide a non-fluorescent, uniform light source.
Special lamps are available that maintain the proper light around the monitor and generate light at much higher frequencies than regular light bulbs.
Glasses Can Correct Near and Far, but What About Those Screens in Between?
More people are showing up at eye appointments complaining of headaches, fatigue, blurred vision and neck pain—all symptoms of computer-vision syndrome (CVS), which affects about 90% of the people who have spent three hours or more a day at a computer, according to the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health.
2. A device capable of accepting data in the form of facts and figures, manipulating them in a prescribed way, and supplying the results of these processes as meaningful information.
This device usually consists of input and output devices, storage, arithmetic and logic units, and a control unit. Usually an automatic, stored-program machine is implied.
2. An apparatus that receives, processes, and presents information.
The two basic types of computers are analog and digital.
Although generally not regarded as such, the most prevalent computer is the simple mechanical analog computer, in which gears, levers, ratchets, and pawls perform mathematical operations; for example, the speedometer and the watt-hour meter (used to measure accumulated electrical usage).
The general public has become much more aware of the digital computer with the rapid proliferation of the hand-held calculator and a large variety of intelligent devices and especially with exposure to the Internet and the World Wide Web.
This is done automatically with an internally stored program of machine instructions.
Such instruments are distinguished from calculators on which the sequence of instructions is externally stored and is impressed manually (desk calculators) or from tape or cards (card-programmed calculators).
"Someone has written that a tablet computer, or tablet laptop, is fast and runs many programs at the same time without lagging and freezing."
The doctor wrote directions for the change in medication about a new prescription tablet which stated that the patient should take one tablet of the new medication every three hours; then, he also recorded the information on his tablet computer.